He is well known and famous for his discovery of Insulin, which was one of the most dramatic and important medical breakthroughs and milestone of the century.
He was awarded the Nobel prize in the field of medicine in 1923 for the discovery of Insulin. He was born in Alliston, Ontario, Canada on November 14, 1891.
His father’s name was William Thompson Banting and his mother was Margaret Grant and they were farmers. Banting was of Scottish and English descent. He was the youngest of his five siblings. He had one sister and three brothers (his 4th brother died as an infant.)
At the age of 21, his father gave all his sons a horse, a buggy, a …show more content…
He did not get good marks! He started his studies in the General Arts program at Victoria College (a part of the University of Toronto) in 1910.
He was thinking of becoming a teacher initially. Surprisingly! He failed his first year. Then in 1912, he petitioned to join the Medical program and his petition was accepted.
In September 1912, he began medical school. In 1914, he was refused to join the Army because of his poor eyesight.
But he tried again and he successfully joined the army in 1915 and spent the summer training before returning to school. Because of World war and requirement of more doctors, his class was fast-tracked. He completed his M.B degree in 1916.
He was next day on his military duty after his graduation. He was wounded at the Battle of Cambrai in 1918. Although he was injured, he was helping other wounded men for sixteen hours, until another doctor told him to stop.
For his bravery, He was awarded the Military Cross in 1919. At that time, The Military Cross (MC) was the third-level military decoration awarded to officers.
After War, he went to Toronto (Canada) to complete his surgical …show more content…
He got success this time and the initial name of the insulin was isletin. Banting gave the name isletin while Macleod gave the name insulin.
They were successful to find a way to get beef pancreas extract for the treatment of diabetes on dogs. But still, they need to purify the insulin for the use of human beings. The teams of many doctors, professors, and scientists were working on that.
James Bertram Collip's (a biochemist) was working to purifying the insulin to be used for testing on humans. Ultimately, the first medical success was with a boy with type 1 diabetes - 14-year-old Leonard Thompson - who was successfully treated in 1922.
The boy was close to death before treatment, but bounced back to life with the insulin. Within no time, insulin became a famous treatment for diabetic patients and so as Fredrick banting’s name too.
In these days, mostly synthetic insulin is used for the treatment of diabetes. It is made both In bacteria and yeast. Insulin helps to keep our blood sugar level from getting too high or too